


Black Hole

by TheArtfulDodger



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bella doesn't know what boundaries are, F/M, Muggle AU, Scientists AU, Tom is a prude, and a jerk who had it coming, attempts at humor were made, but maybe without the sex, or with the sex, sex isn't very graphic, this is literally what research programs are like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:07:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21634861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArtfulDodger/pseuds/TheArtfulDodger
Summary: Prudish, emotionally-detached scientist Tom Riddle gets home one late night, only to find Bellatrix Black, his protege, naked on his bed. And she appears to be mad at him.
Relationships: Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Tom Riddle
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	Black Hole

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justaslytherclawgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justaslytherclawgirl/gifts).



> This was written for a Drabble meme over on Tumblr. The prompt 'why are you naked in my bed' was kindly submitted by justaslytherclawgirl, who was also gracious enough to not throw things at me, as it took me monthS to eventually write this. So thanks, justaslytherclawgirl! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy reading!

Tom Riddle had spent the last five days and nights at the lab: revising code, adding references, checking, rechecking and checking once more all the data, before finally hitting _Submit_ on the magazine’s online form. With the paper sent after months of hard work, all he could do was wait for a reply on whether his work was good enough to be presented to the scientific community. He was not worried, his work was always top notch and everyone was eager to read his newest research, but he set himself high standards and refused to settle for ordinary success. He was special, after all. 

Exhausted, he had thrown all his stuff in his rucksack (worn underwear, broken pens and miles of paper) and braved the rainy streets; all he wanted now was to shower and catch up on sleep. He was already fantasising about the hot water massaging his sore muscles when he slid the key to his apartment door. Blindly, he staggered into the small living room, before turning on the lights. 

The keys fell to the floor with a loud jingle. 

“Is there a reason you are naked on my bed, miss Black?” 

Tom’s voice was calm and his face collected, as always, but the gleam in his eyes betrayed his alarm. 

At the other end of the room, sprawled on his bed, was Bellatrix Black, the 23 year old Master’s student working for him. She was lying on her side, a lustful smirk playing on her lips, like a Renaissance painting, only, instead of a lapdog, she was offering him a pile of shredded paper. 

Tom threw his palm over his eyes, shielding himself from the view before him.

“I am here to hand you my resignation, _sir,”_ she deadpanned in her husky voice that had never oozed more sex than now. However, her dark grey eyes resembled steel. The naked girl on his bed was _angry_.

“Do you know what this is?” she demanded and, at Tom’s refusal to look at her, she threw the bits of paper all over him, like confetti. Tiny, white speckles got caught in his wet curls and, in his eternal war against untidiness, he went to shake them off, only for his gaze to fall once more on Bellatrix’ bare breasts and he had to turn around completely. 

“What on earth are you doing?! Put some clothes on, girl!” 

“Oh, but that would defeat the point of making you uncomfortable.”

“This is harassment!”

“Exactly! You harassed me, so now I’m harassing you!”

“How dare you suggest- I would _never-_ ”

Justified fury choked him for a moment. 

He felt as if an anvil had been dropped on his head: there was only one thing that could terminate his illustrious academic career and that was sexual misconduct accusations. And to think he had hand-picked Bellatrix among thousands of cutthroat applicants who would have killed to be his protégés, nurtured her talents and helped her improve her weaknesses; he was literally teaching her everything he knew, gallons of knowledge only he possessed, and that was her thank you? A conspiracy that would send him to jail? 

He wanted to scream and cry at the same time. But before he could do either, Bellatrix let out a mocking cackle. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, how cheap do you think I am?” she dismissed. “No, what I’m talking about is _this.”_

She was pointing at the pool of shredded paper at his feet and Tom, after judging it safe, dared to look. They were the results of a professional paper shredder, making it hard to tell, but there, on a larger piece of paper, Tom noticed a calligraphic, green H; a very recognizable H.

  
“ _Fuck._ ”

“You have no idea how fucked you are,” growled Bellatrix, her eyes flashing. 

“I can explain-” Tom started, his voice lacking the confidence he usually felt when he was about to lie through his teeth. 

“I don’t want to hear it! I'm done with your childish arseholeness! Excuses over why your letter of recommendation had to be bland, excuses why you couldn't call them to recommend me in person- Lies, lies, lies! Just tell me one thing- How did you receive this letter instead of me? Did you call Hogwarts pretending to be my father and give your address as my own? Because I’ve been waiting for their reply for _weeks_ and nobody saw the goddam letter in the mailbox- I interrogated the entire house staff-”

“Of course you did-”

“Shut up, for once in you life just shut up, you’re in no position to judge anyone!”

“All right then, I’ll shut up. But you need to put clothes on and leave.”

“I’m doing neither until you call them back, apologise for the inconvenience and demand they accept me into the program because _you_ made a mistake.”

Tom remained immobile before Bellatrix, his back at her.

“Take out. Your phone. And call them. _Now_.”

Tom reached for his vest pocket, where his smartphone was stashed safely out of the rain, took it out and deposited it on the nightstand. Then, he drew himself to his full height.

“No.” 

_“What?”_

“I said, no. I’m not calling them-” 

“You’re in no position to bargain!”

“- because I don’t want you to go.”

There was dead silence, with only the rain whipping the windows from outside. Tom was unable to see it, but Bellatrix’s jaw had dropped and her cheeks were turning a light pink. 

“What, you thought I stole your acceptance letter just so I could get on your nerves?” he laughed. 

“Of course not,” Bellatrix covered up her emotions quickly. “You want me to stay, because I’m the only intern you’ve ever had who never complained about being at your beck and call, working for you through nights and weekends and holidays. You want me here because I’m the only person who’s managed to tolerate your insane nitpicking and fucking OCD without plotting your murder three days into the job! Basically you want me to stay a glorified grunt for the rest of my life, while you keep collecting awards and become one of the best scientists of the century-”

“I already _am_ one of the best scientists of the century,” Tom corrected her. “Probably the best one in the world right now. Maybe ever! So why would you want to leave me?”

“Hogwarts Academy has been my _dream_! I’ve wanted to be part of their Physics program since I first took science at school! You should know, you had the same dream! And guess what, you got to go! It’s not fair not allowing me to go, especially when they’ve already accepted me, even though you _never called in person to recommend me_ , because you’re a fucking arsehole!”

“I’m not going to put my own head on the block, I’m not an idiot!”

“What block, what are you talking about?”

“Do you know why they accepted you? Because I trained you, because I _made_ you into a great scientist! And, goodness, were you a handful at times! But I spent my time and energy and resources on you and now, what, you’re leaving me for Dumbledore and I’m supposed to give you my blessing?”

He had not meant to yell the last phrases, but he did. Anger and resentment he had not noticed boiling inside him were now spilling out like murderous lava. 

Yes, he was upset, insulted, frankly, that Bellatrix, who had called him her idol and role model during her interview, who engaged him in conversation even after they were done working, late into the night, who lit up every time he introduced himself as her mentor in conferences, was going to ditch him, just like that, the moment a fancy school offered her a PhD position. 

Stealing her letter of acceptance had been easy. He had changed the return address when she had left his half-hearted recommendation letter at the lab to be mailed; that night he had steamed it open over a pot in the kitchens and forged the lab’s address in Bellatrix’s handwriting, a skill from his teenage con artist days which he still found useful. 

Destroying the letter had been even easier. When the mailman delivered it to his office, he simply fed it to the paper shredder, not sparing it a glance. Out of sight, out of mind. 

What he had not taken into account, apparently, was Bellatrix’s determination to go to Hogwarts and her confidence in her abilities. He imagined her rummaging through his perfectly organised office, leaving every place she searched like a murder scene, before finding the paper shredder he had been too dumb to empty and spending the rest of the night putting together the puzzle of her acceptance letter, cursing him all the while. 

Why on earth her endgame had to include nudity was beyond his understanding though.

“Oh, so you admit I’m a great student, but you couldn’t be bothered neither to say it to my face, nor to write anything other that the standard bullshit on my letter of recommendation!” Bellatrix demanded, who was obviously too angry to care about his brilliant plan. 

“You are the _best_ student I’ve ever had,” Tom corrected her evenly. “Which is why I am not eager to see you go. And I will most certainly not help you on your way out.”

Another silence followed his words, during which Bella was trying to cover up the triumphant smile that had bloomed on her lips. 

“I knew it,” finally she said smugly. “I knew it. Goodness, you’re such an idiot.”

“Knew what?” Tom spat. 

“It’s why I’m quitting. But I wanted you to say it first.”

“Say what?” Tom insisted, annoyance rising by the minute; he was very uncomfortable not following the conversation.

“You don’t want me to stay because you need me to assist you at the lab, you want me to stay because you actually enjoy my company.”

“I did not say _anything_ along those lines-”

“When you taught me, you never said I was a good student. You always said I needed to work harder, even though we both knew I was doing exceptionally well. You’d only admit it in order to avoid revealing something deeper. That you’re in love with me.”

If Tom had been red in the face when he found her naked on his bed, now he was aubergine-coloured. His entire body stiffened up and he knit his fingers behind his back, knuckles white. From a distance, he appeared like a small child caught doing something he ought not to. 

This was supposed to be his secret. It wasn’t even a thing, really. He wasn’t in love with her. _He didn’t even know what love is supposed to feel like_. All he knew was that he wanted Bellatrix to stay; have her around him as they worked late into the night, chatting about things he had never considered discussing with anyone before; seeing her laugh at things he said that were not funny at all; listening to funny stories from her life, while waiting for his turn to share funny stories from his life. 

And yes, he desired her. But that was only a pathetic result of his human nature; beautiful faces and healthy physiques are designed to arouse carnal want, otherwise the human race would have died out long ago. It didn’t mean he would become a slave to biology. 

It was an infatuation. It would pass. 

“Look at me,” Bellatrix said gently. 

Tom stood with his back at her, his gaze straight on the book spines of the opposing wall. 

“I want you to turn around and look at me. Come on, you’re a big boy, you can focus on my face without getting a boner, can’t you?” 

Tom, never one to turn down a challenge, turned slowly to meet Bellatrix’s dark grey eyes, his neck straight. Expecting to be ridiculed for his stupid sentimentality, he was taken by surprise by how tender her usually haughty face was. 

Bellatrix sat up on the bed, her eyes digging deep into his. 

“All you had to do was ask,” she whispered. “Instead of orchestrating this stupid charade, you could have just told me. And I would have said yes.”

In a daze, heart thumping in his chest, Tom noticed that Bellatrix’s pupils were dilated to the extreme; she was either high or… sincere. 

“But since I know you don’t trust anyone, I figured taking my clothes off and fucking myself on your bed before you came home would be the most blatant way to prove my point.”

Her hand had found his cheek, and Tom gravitated towards it, his eyes closing on contact. She was soft and warm, her fingers smelling of sex. He had no idea when he put them in his mouth. 

“It’s unprofessional,” he mumbled, his face buried in the palm of her hand. 

“You don’t even know what a professional looks like,” Bellatrix traced his velvet-covered chest with her nails. 

“The age difference… it’s never going to work,” he insisted, sitting on the bed and getting covered in her passionate kisses.

“I have Daddy Issues and your cheekbones are incredibly hot,” she said, biting his jaw hard and slipping her hands in his trousers to grab his skinny arse. 

“You’re a spoilt little rich girl playing around with her chemistry set, while I’m a working class man struggling to make a career in academia,” he managed to get out, as Bellatrix’s skilled hands got to work on his already harding cock. 

“Do you honestly think I’m living in a water closet on campus, working myself raw, because once I was bored to attend a charity ball?” Bellatrix smirked at his muffled moaning.

“I don’t - I don’t do relationships,” Tom admitted, cupping her breasts as if he were lost at sea and they a raft.

“Neither do I. We’ll figure this out together,” Bellatrix shrugged, and promptly pulled at the delicate skin at the end of his cock. 

“I- _Ahh-_ I’m all out of excuses...”

“Finally.”

With those words, and a wicked grin on her face, Bellatrix dragged him on the bed, on top of her. It was as if the green light had been given to Tom. He kicked off his pants and the next moment he was thrusting in and out of her frantically, his hands all over her body. She returned the favour with lustful moans, scratching him with her nails and pushing her pelvis up to meet his in collisions of pleasure. 

When his orgasm came, it had an intensity unlike anything he had ever felt. Unable to see, hear or move, he let his body collapse over Bella, who was still contracting around him. 

“ _Amazing…_ ”

By the time he realised what he had said, it was too late. Bellatrix was laughing out loud.

“I know,” she breathed in his ear. “I don’t need you to tell me how to do things to be great, I just agreed before because I was trying to get you to sleep with me and I know it turns you on when you think you know everything.”

She started stroking his hair in a way that sent shivers down his spine. It was like she was hypnotising his body. 

He was already drifting to sleep when Bella’s plan became clear in his mind. He barely managed to fall to his side graciously, to get a good look at Bella’s face, who did not appear sleepy in the least. 

“You’ve just made a huge mistake,” he said smugly. “There’s no way I’m letting you go to Hogwarts now. With my name and your money we can create a research program that will put Dumbledore’s to shame.”

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously Bella never quit after this, nor was she ever planning to. But Tom is an idiot in Muggle settings as well as magical ones, so he had to get hit over the head with the truth in order to accept his attraction. They went on to create the Knights of Walpurgis Research Foundation, they made first contact with aliens, found Atlantis and created the Philosopher's Stone, living happily ever after, The End. 
> 
> Seriously tho, people, don't break into people's homes and wait for them naked in their beds, it *is* harassment.


End file.
